(Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for History/Biography) The first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay is a familiar saga, though the tales of many other adventurers who also came to test their skills and courage against the world's highest and most dangerous mountains are less well known. In this lively and well-illustrated book Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver present a comprehensive history of Himalayan mountaineering with detailed, original accounts of the most significant climbs since the 1890s, while also evoking the social and cultural worlds that gave rise to those expeditions.

"An awe-inspiring work of history and storytelling.... Isserman and Weaver brilliantly present the complete picture—the political context, the changing social dynamics, the emergence of modern climbing technique—without losing sight of the need to entertain.... Armchair mountaineers will give the book pride of place in their collections."—NYTBR